


Dustringer's Spellery

by conceptstage



Series: Multi-Chapter Critical Role [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Body Horror, Psychological Torture, this is so much darker than my usual stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 04:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17842910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptstage/pseuds/conceptstage
Summary: Beau's been cursed and to save her Caleb will have to risk their friendship.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a shortish, two or three chapter quick fic. I'm not sure how to tag it.

Jester walked solemnly down the stairs, wiping at the dry tear tracks on her cheeks and clearing the despair from her throat. Everyone looked up hopefully as she got near but she shook her head. “She won’t wake up. Cad and I have tried everything.”

Caleb frowned and stared at his hands, Nott fiddled with the jade bracelet on her wrist, Fjord leaned silently against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, and Yasha stared sullenly out the window. “There’s nothing we can do?” Nott asked. “We just have to, what? Wait and hope she fights through it on her own? That’s bullshit!”

Jester nodded. “Cad says she’s fighting it. He doesn’t know anything about this curse.”

Caleb cleared his throat. “There’s…” he sighed and took a moment to look around the empty tavern. The only other person there was the barkeep, sleeping and snoring heavily in a chair behind the bar. “There’s someone who might be able to help. I know her… from when I was student. She was an older student, a bit of a wildcard. She wasn’t chosen for the same program that I was but I heard she ran away shortly before… well, before.”

“What makes you think she can help?” Yasha asked.

“She was a poor student and kind of a bitch, but she was, by far, the most talented curse breaker to ever grace the halls of the Academy. If she’d been a bit more studious it’s entirely likely she’d be head of the curse breaking department there right now.”

Jester gasped in excitement. “Caleb! Why did you mention her earlier?”

He cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly in his chair. “I had hoped that we would be able to handle it on our own and I was reluctant to turn to someone from my past. I trust her to keep her word but still… But now it’s been too long, much longer and Beau will starve to death. I can’t… I can’t let her die just because I’m scared of old ghosts. I’ll stay here with Beau and you can all go talk to her.”

“Where is she? Is she in town?”

Caleb frowned. “She has a shop in town. Whether she will actually be there… I’m not sure.”

“We should go try at least,” Jester said and Nott nodded. “I’ll go get Cad.”

Fjord moved to sit across from the wizard. “Can you give me directions to this shop? A name?”

“I don’t know where it is but I do know it’s name. It’s called Dustringer’s Spellery. Tell her that Bren is calling in his favor. And please, keep my real name as quiet as possible. I don’t know who all will be there.”

 

In the end, the shop was fairly easy to find. Most people in Hupperduke knew it as the one shop in town to avoid. It was on the edge of the lower part of town, a brick building with crumbling walls and walkways. The door was sitting slightly ajar on its hinges. There was sign hanging above the door, just under the second floor dark, dusted window. ‘Dustringer’s’. The ‘Spellery’ part had fallen off at some point it seemed. Jester cleared her throat and moved to open the door but Fjord gently held her wrist. “Yasha and I’ll go first,” he said.

“But Fjord, I’m stronger than you are.”

He winced and his cheeks flushed. “Yeah, I know, but I’m taller than you are.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“I will go first,” Yasha said, pushing open the door. She could feel the hum of magic down to her bones as she stepped through the threshold. Fjord followed next, then Cad, Jester, and Nott. The interior was far different than the exterior made it seem. The walls were structurally sound for one thing, with shelves and shelves and books and magical whatsits. There was a big window in the back with morning sunlight shining in. 

That wasn’t right, Jester realized as she stepped up to the window. “It was overcast,” she mumbled. The city outside was not Hupperduke. It was a bustling main street with shops and stalls littering the cobblestones. The sun was low, giving the world a pinkish glow. “And it was afternoon.”

“Come in through the portal?” Asked a voice. Everyone followed it to find a young gnome in big round spectacles shelving books on the far wall. She didn’t even look at them. “Where you in from?”

“Uh… Hupperduke,” Nott called.

The young woman paused and finally turned to them. “Hupperduke? They canceled my business license there years ago. Huh, they must have left the enchantment up.” She huffed and hopped down onto the floor. “So, what can I do you for?” As she walked over, they got a better look at her. She was wearing a crisp white shirt under a ruddy pair of overalls with glasses that took up nearly half her face. Her long brown hair was braided over one shoulder and her cheeks were dotted with freckles.

“Where are we?” Fjord asked instead of answering her.

“Emon, in Tal Dorei.”

Jester gasped. “We’re not even in the Empire anymore,” she said, a smile curling across her cheeks. “Oh, this is so cool!”

“You have a name?” Yasha asked, towering over the young gnome.

The gnome grinned. “Talia Dustringer, at your service. Come with me and we can talk about what you need.” She walked over the counter and climbed up a set of stairs to perch behind the register. There was a painting directly behind her head of a young gnome noble woman with two babies in her lap and flowers around her feet.

“That’s a lovely painting,” Yasha said, pointing to it.

Talia glanced back and smiled. “That’s my mum. Raised me and my twin sister alone after her parents disowned her for getting pregnant out of wedlock.”

“No father?” Jester asked. “I’m trying to find mine too”

Talia shrugged. “He was some traveling musician or some shite. Never cared enough about him to look for him. Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t travel all the way from Hupperduke to hear a shopkeep’s sob story. What do you need from little ol me?”

Jester cleared her throat and stepped right up the counter. “Our very, very dear friend got hit with a curse. We heard you were an expert curse breaker and we were hoping you could help.”

She raised a bushy, unkempt eyebrow. “Now, where exactly did you hear something like that?”

“From a friend of ours. He knew you from the Academy.” She whispered conspiratorially.

Talia paused and then cleared her throat. “You have the wrong gnome. That’s my sister you’re after.” She leaned back. “Jaena!” she called at the top of the lungs. “You’ve got visitors!” She leaned towards Jester again and grinned. “Just a tip? She doesn’t look back on her Academy days favorably. Maybe keep it short?” There was some movement behind the curtain and they heard footsteps coming around the side of the counter. Talia smiled. “Morning, Jae. You look like shit.”

“Fuck you.” A second gnome came into view and leaned against the counter. She was dressed in all black with dark purple lipstick and nails. Her brown hair was completely shorn and there was a tattoo behind her pierced ear of a kraken. “The fuck you want?”

“Ah, hi, hello,” Caduceus said, kneeling down to look her in the eye. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Nott came up beside him. “We need your help. A friend of ours is cursed and we heard you could help us.”

She sneered. “I don’t do that shite for just anyone. Who told you I was a curse breaker?”

“A friend. He said he knew you from the Academy and that you were the best-”

“Out.” She turned and started back around the counter. “Get out!”

“Ah- no! Wait! Please, we need your help!” Jester exclaimed

“No one from the Academy is worth my time or attention. Fuck your friend and fuck them all, I’m done with that shite.”

“Waitwaitwait! Please, Caleb said- Bren!” Jester called, leaning over the counter to look down at her. Talia was just leaning off to the side, watching with interest. “His name was Bren! He said you owed him a favor!”

The gnome paused and turned to her. “Bren?”

Jester bit her lip and nodded. She hadn't meant to call it out so loudly. “He- uh… He goes by Caleb now.”

“I heard he was dead.”

“Not dead,” said Nott, climbing up to Jester’s shoulders. “Just lost himself a bit.”

Jaena looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing. “That fucker. Fine, come on back.” She stepped through the curtains, muttering curses to herself. Jester and Fjord exchanged a look and then then all filed passed Talia to follow the gnome into the back. 

When it got to Caduceus, Talia held up a hand to stop him. “You’re probably not gonna fit, mate. Even the goth one is gonna be squeezing a bit. You mind hanging out here and helping me stock the high shelves?”

Cad looked after his friends but nodded and smiled. “Certainly.”

“You gonna be okay out here?” Jester asked.

He nodded. “Call if you need me, I will crawl to you if need be.”

Jester giggled. “Will do! Thanks.” They followed Jaena deeper into the building. Fjord flinched when someone in a room he passed screamed.

“He’s fine,” Jaena called to him, not stopping or looking back. “Some curses have to broken literally.” She didn’t elaborate but continued forward wordlessly. Finally she brought them to a large room with a round table in the direct center and cushions all over the floor and stacked up against the wall. She hopped up on the table and walked across it before falling into a pile of cushions on the other side. She got comfortable while they all started finding seats, Jester directly across the table from her, Fjord to her left, Nott to her right, with Yasha standing resolute in the doorway. She pulled a pipe out of her pocket and stuffed it full of a purple leaf from the tin on the table. She sat it precariously between her teeth and lit it with a match. “Anyone partake?” she asked, thought she didn’t seem to care about the answer. “Tell me about this curse. Who, what, when, and where?”

“Our friend Beau,” Fjord answered. “We were fighting this necromancer outside of Hupperduke in a ruined temple of Vecna. The necromancer is dead, we triple checked, but then Beau opened a box and was hit by this blue energy. She went unconscious and hasn’t woken up for two days. She still drinks water that we put in her mouth, sort of on auto pilot, but when we tried to same with food she choked on it, so she hasn’t eaten in almost forty-eight hours.”

Jaena huffed and a puff of gray smoke left her mouth. The smoke smelled sweet, like honey flowers. “There are a million things that could be. Blue energy, you said? That narrows it down a bit, though there are more sleeping related curses than hairs on your head and each one is broken in a different way. I’ll know more once I see her. Bring her in to me.”

“How much is this gonna cost us?” Nott asked.

Jaena considered for a moment. “You said this was a favor for Bren?” Nott nodded. “Free of charge.”

“What do you owe him?” Fjord asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Jaena opened her mouth to say something snarky and he saw her have to physically hold it in. She swallowed the salt like a lump in her throat and shook her head. “I wasn’t cut out for that life. Magic… It was different for me than for the others. They got stronger by learning, I got stronger by doing, and the Academy didn’t really cater to that sort of training. I wanted to leave, but I knew they wouldn’t just let me. They were big on secrecy there, so once you’re part of their cult you never get to be free again. He helped me leave. Not for free, of course, Bren doesn’t do shite for free. He made me owe him a favor. I thought since he was dead he’d never come to collect, but that fucker won’t even let death keep him from getting what he’s owed. Will he be coming with you?”

Jester and Fjord exchanged another glance but it was Yasha who spoke. “Perhaps. He goes by Caleb now, I’m sure he’d prefer it if you didn’t throw his name around.”

Jaena snorted and smoke came out her nose. “What, he thinks I’ve got spying eyes around here? Fuck no, this entire block is protected from divination spells. What the fuck does he take me for, a novice? Naw, bring that fucker here so he can say that shite to my face.”

As they left through the door they’d entered- “Make sure you say what town you’re going to before you go in or else you’ll just pop right back out here” Talia called- Fjord leaned over to Jester. 

“Am I the only one who thinks that she and Beau will either get along incredibly well or they’ll have a fight to the death within five minutes of meeting?”

 

Yasha held Beau tightly in her arms and Beau wasn’t even awake to enjoy it. Caleb frowned as he stared at the decrepit building. “Here?”

Jester nodded. “It looks gnarly but it’s actually a portal to a very nice store in Tal Dorei,” she, opening the door. 

Fjord stepped up first. “Let’s go.”

“And you said she warded the whole block, right?”

“Well, that’s what she said, but honestly, there was so much magic in that building I couldn’t feel any wards even if they were there.”

Strangely, that seemed to make him feel better. “Alright, he said, stepping after Fjord through the door. Yasha followed next with Beau in her arms. Then Cad and Nott followed with Jester bringing up the rear. The room hadn’t changed at all in the hour they’d been gone, but there were several people inside now, browsing the shelves. Caleb curled on himself and scratched nervously at his bare arms but none of them paid the group any mind.

Talia looked up from where she was finishing a customer’s order and waved them back. “Come on through, she’s got the room set up.” They moved passed her towards the back and suddenly the bookish gnome wobbed in place and nearly fell off the stairs she was using the reach the counter. Cad reached around Yasha’s body to hold her up. “Oh, dear,” she said, looking at Beau with wide, fearful eyes. “That’s some powerful stuff. How are you all still standing after being around it for so long?”

Caleb looked confused. “It hasn’t affected us in such a way,” he said, turning his face away when she looked at him.

She frowned and held onto the counter so tightly her knuckles turned white. “Get her out of here. I feel faint. Are you telling me you don’t feel that… that evil? Gods, I’m gonna be sick.” Yasha hurriedly carried Beau into the back and away from Talia.

“I’ll stay out here,” Cad called again, helping the young gnome stay on her feet.

Yasha carried Beau in front down to the room they’d been taken to before. There was still someone screaming in that room they passed but now there was also a quiet, male voice whispering soothingly. The room from before with the cushions was empty and they all stood around awkwardly for a moment before Jaena stepped out of a door farther down the hall.

“Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.” Caleb curled his shoulders up by his ears and tried to bury his face in his scarf but his movement caught Jaena’s eyes. She raised an eyebrow. “Bren? What happened to you, man? You look… like shit.”

Caleb cleared his throat and nodded to her. “You look well also, Jaena. You’ve done quite well for yourself, I’m impressed. Thank you for helping.”

She was still looking him up and down. “Is this what dying does to you?”

“Ah, I’ve never died. Gotten close but, no, this is me.”

“What was he like when you knew him?” Jester asked, grinning mischievously. “Was he very different?”

“Like night and day, holy shit. I barely recognized him with his hair like that. I used to tease him that he spent more time getting ready in the morning than I did. Damn, Bren.”

“You have not changed in the least, Jaena. And it’s Caleb, now. If you please.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You don’t have to use fake names here.”

“Please,” he said again. “Caleb. It’s not a fake name anymore, it’s my name.”

She seemed thrown by his seriousness but shrugged. “Well, alright then. Caleb, bring her on back.” She stood in the doorway to hold it open as they got near.

“Your sister got sick when Beau got near,” Jester warned.

Jaena nodded. “Yeah, I feel it too. I’m more used to it than she is, I’ll be fine. Just sit her on the table there.” The room that they stepped into was far more stark and sterile looking than the last. There was nothing on the walls and chairs instead of cushions. There was a single table in the center with a blue piece of cloth paid over it. Yasha gently laid Beau on top of the table and then took a seat nearby. Everyone else did the same and Jaena brought up the rear. “Alright, let’s see what we can learn right here.” She hopped up on a step stool until she was tall enough to see them over Beau’s body. She closed her eyes and her hands hovered over Beau’s body, glowing a faint white light. “Oh… shite. This is a new one. I thought I’d seen every sleeping curse known to mortal kind, but this... “ She frowned and opened her eyes. “It’s not a sleeping curse.”

“But she’s sleeping,” Fjord said.

“Side effect. The actual curse is inside of her instead of around her. Usually curses will be on the surface of a person. A good tug in one way or another and they just fall away. It’s like… how to describe this… It’s like metaphysical tissue paper. Sleeping curses are the weakest on the curse hierarchy, they can usually be broken by a kiss or some fuckery like that, but this is deeper than anything I’ve ever seen. I can’t reach the curse from here.”

“Can’t reach it?” Fjord asked. “Where do you need to go to get it?”

“Not me,” she said, looking up at them. “You. Once you get close enough you should be able to convince her to tear it down herself. She’s the only one who can affect the world once you’re inside, the only hard part is getting to it. You’ll have to go in.”

“In…? Inside her?” Jester asked. “Like, in a sexy way because I don’t think Beau would like that too much.”

“No,” Caleb said next, not taking his eyes from Beau’s body. “Inside her mind. We’ll have to send our consciousness into hers, is that right?” He stood up and stepped up to the table, meeting Jaena’s stare. “What exactly is the nature of the curse? If sleeping isn’t the point, what is it doing to her?”

“It’s making her face her deepest fears and demons. One after another after another until the end of time or until she dies, whichever comes first. The sleeping is because the curse turned all nonessential parts of the brain on standby, to keep her focused on the trauma.”

“She’s been like that for so long,” Yasha said, standing up to stand beside Caleb. He turned to meet her concerned eyes. “It must be like a constant nightmare.”

“It is,” Jaena said, without comfort. She hopped off of her stool and started towards the door. “I’m going to fetch the spell. Wait here and discuss among yourselves. I can only send one person in.”

“Just one?” Nott asked, confused.

“A mind can usually only handle a single consciousness. Putting two in there and things get a little dicey, a strong mind like your Beau’s should be able to handle it. Any more than that and the chance for permanent damage triples with each new person. Best not to risk it just yet.” Then she left them alone.

“Who should go?” Fjord asked. “I can barely handle being in my own mind sometimes, I don’t know-”

“Caleb will go,” Nott said.

“I- What?” Caleb stuttered. “No.”

Jester frowned. “I could go. I know Beau probably the best.”

“Caleb, Caleb will go.”

“Nott-”

“Yasha could go,” Jester said next, turning to her. “You’re very strong, you could protect her.”

Yasha frowned. “This magic stuff… I don’t trust it. I would prefer to stay out here and protect her body.”

“Caleb.”

“Should Cad go?” Fjord asked. “This is all about emotions, right? And trauma. He’s good with that stuff.”

“Caleb.”

Jester finally turned to Nott. “Nott, he doesn’t want to go. I’ll-”

“I will go,” Caleb said finally. The others quieted as he cleared his throat. “I will do it, I’ll go in.” He fiddled with the edge of his sleeve nervously. “This is sure to be a very intimate experience. Whoever goes in will see a part of Beau that she has never shown anyone. They will see all her deepest dreams and insecurities. I don’t think- I don’t think she would want you to see that side of her, Jester. It won’t always be pretty, it won’t make you like her more. I’m not sure that I would personally want to be around someone who had seen me at my most vulnerable. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Jester frowned and stared down at her hands as the curled into fists. “You’re saying that she might hate whoever goes in there after they come back out.”

“I think so. It would be understandable, it’s a violation of sorts. And I think she would miss me being in her life the least, so it should be me.”

“That’s not true,” Jester insisted. “She loves you, she does.”

Caleb gave her a sad smile. “She doesn’t. But thank you, Jester. I will go in.”

The door opened and Jaena stepped inside once more, holding a book in her left hand. “There we go. Made a decision?”

Caleb nodded. “I will go.”

Jaena seemed put off by that. “Well, that’s awfully kind of you, Bren. You won’t come out of this experience unchanged either, you know. It’s not gonna be sunshine and daisies, it’ll be several layers of horror shows. What exactly is she going to owe you for this?”

Caleb frowned. “Nothing. She will not owe me a thing. I’m not like anymore, Jae. And it’s Caleb. Please.”

Jaena stared into his eyes, looking for a break, for a sign of lying, but then seemed to find what she wanted in his gaze and shrug. “Well, alright, Caleb. If they trust you with her, then I’ll trust their judgement.”

“We trust him,” Fjord said. Out of the entire group, it was Fjord’s trust in him that surprised him the most. “He’ll take good care of her.” He turned his eyes to Caleb. “And we’ll take care of you. We’ll make sure you don’t die of dehydration while you’re empty.”

Caleb nodded and Jester giggled. “Not gonna lie, this whole conversation sounds super dirty.” Caleb was pretty sure the humor was just to cover up for her nervousness, because then she reached up to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

“It did sound super dirty,” Caleb agreed. He retook his seat and tried to relax it so that he didn’t fall over. “We should get started then, yeah?”

“Oh!” Jester exclaimed, reaching into her bag. “You should eat something! We don’t know when the next time you’ll be able to eat will be!” She pulled out a crusty, stale doughnut and waved it under his nose. He ate it in a few quick bites. 

“Thanks,” he said, relaxing once more. “Here we go. Jaena, whenever you’re ready.”

She sat a moldy piece of bread and a marble cube about the size of her two fists in his lap. “Components,” she said to Fjord’s confused stare. “Alright. Here we go. Hang onto your asses.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing a dreamscape is harder than I thought it'd be. Fuck, why do I do this to myself?

Caleb opened his eyes.

But not really. It felt like waking up felt, but he didn’t feel his eyelids move. He realized a moment later than he couldn’t feel his heart beating. He put that on the back burner for a moment and started looking around.

He was in a house. A very lovely house, with shiny clean floors. And tin ceilings.

It must have been the family room or something, there were sofas and an ivory tea table. There was a steaming cup of tea in front of him and he reached out to take a sip. “This is lovely tea, Miss Lionett.” he said, though he was barely aware of it.

Suddenly, there was a woman on the armchair across from him. He could have sworn that she wasn’t there before. She smiled kindly and gingerly sat down her cup and saucer on the table. “Thank you, Dear, brought here straight from Ankharel. Only the finest. Beau should be here in a moment.” Suddenly the woman in front of him shifted, turning towards the back hallway. She was still in her very nice, expensive, tailored dress, but she looked like a giant imp, with leathery wings sprouting from her back and large fangs curling up out of her bloody lips. “Beauregard!” she screamed in a voice that would have shattered Caleb’s eardrums if he had any here. She shifted back like nothing had happened and gave Caleb another smile.

There were footsteps down the hall and a small child came into view. She looked like he imagined Beau would have looked when she was young. She was wearing a bright pink dress and white dress shoes. Her hair was meticulously combed and piled up in a bun on top of her head with perfectly straight bangs cut across her eyebrows. She couldn’t be older than five. “Yes, Mother,” she said. There was strength in her little body and fear in her eyes.

Her mother smiled at her with fanged imp teeth and red imp eyes. “There is someone here to see you.” Then she was gone like she’d never been there at all and Beau was sitting in the vacant chair.

She stared at him and sneered. “Caleb?” she asked in a tiny voice, reclining back in her coiffed dress like she was still in her monks robes. “What are you doing here?” She paused and looked around. “You’re not usually here. This is the millionth time this one has happened and you’ve never been here before.”

“Beau?” he asked, surprised by her awareness. Based on Jaena’s explanation he thought that she would just be going through the motions of the nightmare. “Do you understand what happened?”

She frowned and on little Beau it actually looked quite cute. “I remember… blue lights. And a box. Is everyone else okay? Jester was right beside me.”

He nodded. “She’s fine. It seems to only have affected you. I’m here to help you break the curse. We need to reach it, do you know where it is?”

Then she was gone and her mother was back. It was like a blink but he knew that he hadn’t actually opened or closed his eyes. Little Beau was back in the hallway, staring at her mother. “Who is it Mother?” she asked, moving forward. She met his eyes like she didn’t recognize him. It seemed that her awareness came and went. And with her awareness went his control.

“Hello, Beauregard,” he said, though he didn’t really. “My name is Caleb, I’m-” His words started glitching out, stuttering without his control. The imp eyes turned on him instead.

“You don’t belong here,” Beau’s mother said, snarling at him. “You can’t save her. She’s mine, she belongs to me. I’m her mother, her life is mine to do with what I please.” She turned on her daughter and the young girl started to bawl. “Shut up.” And she did. She made no sounds but there were still tears flowing out of her eyes. “Dance.”

And Beau started to dance. She twirled around the floor, her dress fluttering around her as she silently sobbed.

“Beau,” Caleb exclaimed, trying to move towards her, but he couldn’t move his feet. “You can stop, don’t listen to her. She’s weak, Beau. The curse is weak, you can tear it away whenever you want.”

“Don’t listen to him,” her mother ordered and little Beau slapped her hands over her ears. “You need me, you are nothing without me. I brought you into this world, you’re mine!”

The imp that was once a beautiful middle aged woman stomped towards her daughter and lifted her into the air by puppet strings. “Beau!” he called again but she gave no indication that she could hear him.

“I control you,” the imp roared, tugging on one string to force Beau’s hands away from her ears. “You belong to me!”

Beau screamed and reached out for her mother with both hands. She wrapped her tiny fingers in the woman’s lovely dress and pulled. The illusion fell away, leaving the two of them in the family room alone. Beau looked at the shreds of the first curse layer in her fingers.

“It worked,” she said. “Holy shit, it worked.” It felt odd hearing the cursing coming from such a young person. “That’s all I needed to do this whole time?” She paused and looked up at him with an intelligence uncommon in a child. “How long has it been? Out there? You still look the same, it can’t be more than a few years, right?”

Caleb blinked in shock. “Beauregard… It’s been two days.”

“It... No. There’s no fucking way. I’ve been cycling through these nightmares for years, I know it. I started counting each time the pattern started over and I lost count about the 500th cycle and they all felt brand new every time. There’s no way it’s only been two days.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry it felt like so long, but no. It’s only been two days.” He cleared his throat. “So, that was your mother, huh?”

Beau sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Sorta. My mother was a lot more… subtle than that, it was a bit exaggerated. But that’s how it felt some days. What happens now?”

“Well, I don’t know. How do these nightmares usually switch over?”

“Usually I die. Usually, in this one, my mother strangles me with my own puppet strings.” She said it so casually but he could see the way her eyes flit nervously around the room, waiting for her mother to reappear. “There’s one where I fall in the lava trying to save Nott and I melt to death, that one’s fun. Then, when I open my eyes I’m in a different nightmare. Hey, when did that get there?”

Caleb followed her eyes and there was a door where there had definitely not been one before. “The way out?” he suggested.

Beau sighed and smiled. “Is it finally over? Can we leave?”

“Beau,“ Caleb started, putting his large hand on top of her head comfortingly. “This is only the first one. Jaena, the sorcerer who helped me get here... She said that there would be many layers to the curse. And only you could tear them down.”

She frowned and heistated in front of the door. “There’s some messed up shit in here, Man,” she said. “You sure you can handle being all up in my issues?”

“Can _you_ handle me being all up in your issues?” he asked. “I’m going to see things, Beau. I’m going to see it all. Can you handle that?”

She started marching towards the door, her dress shoes clicking loudly on the tile. “It’s not like I have a choice.”

“Beau… I’m sorry.”

She huffed and refused to look at him. “Yeah, whatever. We’ll deal with it when we’re out of here.” She opened the door to find just darkness on the other side. She took a deep breath. “Fuck this place, man,” she mumbled before hopping into the blackness beyond, her fluffy pink dress fluttering around her.

Caleb sighed and followed her into the dark.

 

Caleb opened his eyes.

He was alone again, Beau must have lost awareness in the shift between nightmares. He was in a jail cell, the only light coming in through a small window around the corner that he couldn’t see from behind the bars.

“Hello?” he called, leaning his forehead against the metal.

A door snapped open and he heard it bang against the stone wall but he couldn’t see it.

“Let me go, you fuckers! Let me go!” screamed Beau’s voice. Someone made a noise of pain. “There’s more where that came from, asshole! Hey-Sto-”

“Your father’s been informed,” someone said as three people came into view. Two guards on either side of Beau, one gently holding at darkening red mark on his cheek. She kicked her feet and fought against their hold. “He said he’d come by why he was good and ready for you to come home.”

They pushed her hard against the bars and held her there while they unlocked the door and then shoved her in. She tumbled to the floor and somersaulted back to her feet, hurriedly running towards the door. They shut and locked it before she reached them but she pushed her hands through the bars and clawed at them. Now that he got a good look at her, she must have been in her early teens. She was wearing a worn, loose pair of pants and a shirt with rips in it. Her hair was long and braided down her back to reach her waist.

“Let me out! I’ll kick your asses!” They turned and left her. Beau screamed for several minutes after they were gone until her voice went hoarse and she fell to her knees with her forehead pressed against the bars. “Don’t leave me alone in here…”

“Beau?” Caleb asked now that she was quiet.

She didn’t seem to hear him. “He’s not coming,” she whispered, pulling away and looking at her hands. They started to shrivel up with age. Her cheeks hollowed out and her lips started to crack like clay. “I’m going to die in here,” she whispered. “He’s going to leave me to die in here.”

“Beau,” he said again, reaching out to touch her.

His touch seemed to wake her and when she looked at him she was no longer shriveled. “Caleb… How do I fix this one? The curse is me in this one, do I tear myself apart like I did my mother?” she asked, her appearance shifted and she was old for a few seconds as she lost awareness, but it only lasted a moment before she looked at him once more. “I don’t understand this one,” she said, looking down at her fingers. “I’ve been in jail a million times since this but this one… this was the first. Looking back, it wasn’t so bad but at the time it was hell. My father left me to rot alone in here for a month. No one spoke to me. No one touched me, not even to hit me. I was thirteen.” Like a blink, she was screaming again, her skin shriveling until it flaked away.

She shook the cage door violently and smoke started to rise off of her, filling the cell with thick, palpable darkness. When the screaming stopped and the smoke dissipated she was gone. The nightmare ended, unresolved.

 

Caleb opened his eyes.

He was surrounded by trees with a thirty foot clearing in front of him. The full moon lit up the world around him. There was something… familiar about this place. It was like a memory, fuzzy around the edges with an overall feeling a dread that crawled up his spine and made his fingers ache. “Beau?”

She appeared then, sitting in the exact center of the clearing and glaring at the trees. “No,” she growled. She was older in this nightmare. This must be pretty recent. “No, you can’t have them! I won’t let you take them away!”

He stepped forward slowly until he came to stand behind her. “Beau,” he whispered. “What are you looking at?”

She didn’t seem to notice him. “You can’t have them!”

One by one, the entire Mighty Nein, including himself and Mollymauk, stepped out of the trees across the clearing. It was startling to see a mirror image of himself, but the closest he looked the more wrongness he saw. It was him, but his eyes were larger than they were in real life. Mirror Caleb was also clean shaven and his face looked young and rounder in the cheeks. He looked closer to her in age, like he could be her brother. Was this how Beau saw him? When she pictured his face, this was the face she saw in her mind’s eye. He glanced at the others and saw that they were all slightly different than he saw them, like someone had drawn them based on a blurry picture. Jester was wider in the hips with larger, well muscled arms. Yasha was massive, towering over Fjord who she was slightly shorter than in the real world. Fjord had a stronger jaw and wider shoulders, like a leader. Nott had a kinder face than he was used to. Caduceus was a brighter, redder pink, thinner even somehow than Caleb remembered him. Molly was the most different. He was taller than Caleb thought he was, his horns larger and more decorated. His tattoo was brighter green and his skin a duller purple. He stood at the end of the line with Yasha standing at the beginning.

Caleb stared at them for a moment, waiting for the shoe to drop.

“No!” Beau snarled. “I’ll fucking kill you! Don’t you touch them!” Two giant arms reached out of the darkness in the trees and wrapped around Yasha’s body, pulling her back into the nothing. Beau tried to stand but didn’t seem able to use her legs. “Yasha! No!” The sound of Lorenzo’s laugh filled the clearing as the arms came back and snatched Fjord.

Caleb kneeled down beside her and touched her shoulder, but this time it didn’t wake her. The nightmare must have been too real for her to break from it. The arms came back and took Jester.

“Beau,” Caleb said, grabbing both shoulders and stepping in front to block her view. “Beau, look at me- you need to fight it. You have to tear the curse down. You can do it.”

She blinked and looked at him. “Caleb?” But the awareness didn’t last. He looked back over his shoulder just in time to see his mirror image fall to the ground, covered in blood with vacant eyes. “Caleb! No, you bastard! Fuck you!”

“Fuck me indeed,” said Lorenzo’s disembodied voice. A single fist came out of the darkness and wrapped around Nott, squeezing her until she popped like a balloon. The other hand wrapped around Cad’s neck and strangled him. He didn’t fight against it, the light just left his eyes and he crumpled to the ground.

For a few seconds it was just Molly, standing at the end and smirking at her. Suddenly, a blade bloomed from his chest like a bloody rose.

“Nooooo!” Beau tried to push herself up but her legs were still glued to the ground. A shadow fell over the clearing as Lorenzo stepped out of the trees. He towered over them both, taller even than he’d been in real life. He strut across the clearing towards her.

Caleb moved around behind her to speak directly into her ear. “Beau, you have to wake up. You have to fight.” Her glare narrowed but she didn’t give any indication that she heard him. “You can take him. He took Jester. He took Yasha. He took Fjord. He killed Molly. Kill him. You have to kill him.”

When Lorenzo came to a stop in front of her she surged forward to her feet, crying out in anger. She thrust her fist towards his face and punched a hole through his smug smile. The memory started to burn away from the head down but Beau didn’t pull away. She breathed heavily from exertion and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them the bodies of her dead friends were gone.

She turned around and met Caleb’s eyes. “Another layer down,” she said, looking at the ashes under her feet that used to be an Oni.

A hole appeared in the ground nearby. When Caleb leaned over he couldn’t see the bottom. “I suppose that’s the way forward.”

Beau sighed heavily. “Yeah, looks like it.” But she didn’t move.

“Do you… Do you need a moment?”

She shook her head and pushed herself forward like she was wading through quicksand. “No. I’m fine. This is me we’re talking about, I’m always fine.”

“Beau… the fact that you’re having these nightmares is proof that you’re not always fine.”

“You’re one to fucking talk,” she snapped. “Why the hell are you trying to talk to me about my issues when you can’t even-” She stopped herself and sneered. “I… Shit. Sorry. This place makes me… Fuck,” she hissed, turning away from him and scratching at her undercut. “Fuck, fuck.”

“Beau, this place puts you on edge, it’s completely understandable. You’re living all your worst nightmares in front of someone else, anyone would be angry.”

She didn’t respond to him at first and licked her lips as her brow scrunched in thought. She shook her head. “Let’s just go. The sooner we get out of here the sooner I can forget any of this ever happened.” She hopped into the hole and disappeared into the black. Caleb took a deep breath and then stepped in as well.

 

Beau opened her eyes.

She was home. The little run down cabin looked like heaven in the moonlight. She knew that her mother was waiting inside with freshly baked bread and melty butter. Her father would be there with a tight, warm hug and a cup of hot chocolate.

“Tell me about school,” her mother would ask, with real interest in her eyes. “Are you learning a lot about magic?”

“School is great,” she would say. “I’ve made a lot of great friends, I told you about Astrid and Wulf, right? Master Trent recommended us for a special program.”

In a single moment of clarity, she had a thought. ‘Wait. This isn’t my nightmare. This is Caleb’s. Why am I in Caleb’s nightmare?’ But the moment didn’t last long before she was lost to the curse once more.

“It’s time,” someone said to her right. She looked over to find an attractive young woman with brown hair that was braided around her head like a circlet and hard brown eyes. It took her a moment to realize that the woman was speaking in zemnian, but Beau had a perfect understanding of it. Beau felt her heart jump with love and she nodded, taking the torch that was being held out to her. She looked to her left to find a young man there. Wulf and Astrid, she thought with fondness. My dear friends.

She took a deep breath. This is for the Empire. It must be done. Her country would thank her. She stepped up to the house, standing right beside the cart that had been pushed to block the front exit, and tossed the torch onto the pile of hay in the back. It sputtered and then caught, spreading quickly over the dry hay and up the doorframe. The heat pressed against her like an anvil, like heated steel, like the weight of two bodies on top of her.

There was a single heartbeat of fear, of doubt, in her heart before she pushed it down. The deed was done. And it was right. Wasn’t it?

Her mother screamed. Her confidence broke. No. No, it wasn’t right. She looked around frantically to find a stone, for something heavy to break the window. Just when she was about to run for one that she saw near the garden, two sets of arms wrapped around her, wrestling her to the ground.

“Don’t do it, Bren!” Astrid called. “You’re so close! Don’t do it!”

In a flash, they were gone, the house was still there, the fire was gone and Caleb stood beside her. She looked over to find him staring at the house with wide eyes. “I… _Nein_ … _Nein, warum ist das_ … _warum_ …” He turned to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

And then like it had never happened at all, she was back on the ground, struggling against her friend’s strong grips. “No!” she screamed. “I have to save them! I was wrong! I have to save my family!”

The screams cut off abruptly and she knew instinctively that they were dead. She was too late to stop it, too late to change her mind. She had killed her parents.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Beau knew that these weren’t her memories. This wasn’t her nightmare. But it felt like hers when she felt her mind break and she went limp in their grips.

“Bren?” Wulf said, looking down at him. “Bren, are you okay?”

Beau reached out and grabbed them both by the faces. With a cry of rage, she ripped the curse away. She was still on the ground but the heat of the fire was gone. She gasped for breath and realized that she was crying. She wiped hurriedly at her face and sat up, looking around. “Caleb? Caleb?” But she was alone.

 

Caleb opened his eyes.

Jester’s eyes stared right back at him, inches away. “Are you awake?” She reached up and wiped something wet from his cheek. “Caleb?”

He sniffled and gently moved away from her to wipe at his own face. “I’m awake. How’s Beau?”

Beau was still laid across the table in front of him. His limbs felt weak and his vision was blurry but her could see that she was crying too, but she hadn’t woken up. He tried to stand but stumbled and Fjord reached out to help him hold his weight. “She hasn’t moved.”

“How long was I gone?” Beau had said that two days felt like years. It felt like minutes to him but who knew how long it really was.

“Like, fourteen hours?” Nott said, looking back at Yasha for confirmation. Yasha nodded.

Jaena stepped out from behind the table and looked him over. “How’d it go?”

“She did it,” he said. “She tore through the curse three times, was that enough? It kicked me out, why did it kick me out if she wasn’t finished?”

Jaena sighed and hopped up on her step stool. She ran her glowing hands over Beau’s body. “The curse is gone.”

Suddenly, Beau gasped for breath. Her eyes snapped open and she jolted up from the table to it’d electrocuted her. Jester swept forward to wrap her arms around her but Beau held out her hand to keep her away. “No,” she croaked, her voice raw and unused. “Don’t touch me, no one touch me.” She pulled her knees up and buried her face in her pants, trying to steady her breathing.

Jaena stepped slowly away from her and then waved at everyone else. “We should go. Give her some space. She’s been through a lot.”

Jetser twisted her fingers, unsure. “But-”

“Jes,” Beau said, in a tiny voice muffled in the fabric of her pants. “Please… I just need a few minutes. Please.”

“Okay,” she said sadly, turning to walk towards the door. “I love you.”

Beau didn’t answer right away. “Love you too. Caleb? Will you stay?”

Caleb looked between Jester’s sad eyes and Beau’s hunched back, then cleared his throat and nodded. “Go on,” he said, giving her his best reassuring smile. It was probably subpar. “We’ll be out there in a minute.” When the door shut behind the last of their friends, Caleb shuffled over to sit in the chair nearest Beau’s table. “Are you okay?”

“No. No, I’m not fucking okay, motherfuck, shit fuck balls. That was real right? Well, not real-real but you were really in my head? That wasn’t part of the delusion?” He nodded and she cursed again. “Shit. I understand so many of your issues now, holy motherfucker. It felt so… real, like I was living it all over again in your shoes. I could feel myself start to lose my mind, I could feel it all just… crush me.” She let out a shaking breath and finally pulled back to look him in the eye. “Thank you,” she said. “For coming in to get me.”

“Y-You’re welcome.” Honestly, this was not the reaction he had expected. “Jester wanted to come but I convinced her that you would not want her to see you at your worst. Maybe she should gone, her nightmares might have been… I don’t want to say easier, no nightmares are easy, but perhaps hers would have been more mundane.”

“You were right. If there was anyone I would have picked to come wade through the bullshit in my mind, it would have been you.” She turned around to drop her legs off the table. “I can’t even imagine the way Jester would look at me if she knew what was going on up there.” She breathed in deeply through her nose and pushed herself off the table. Her legs were weak and she stumbled but caught herself. “I’m starving. Can we go eat? And then I’m going to sleep for a thousand years.” Caleb nodded and opened the door to the room. The rest of the Nein were waiting outside. Jester gave Beau a hopeful look, her hands twitching like she wanted to grab her and hold on. Beau smiled at her and held out one arm, keeping the other on the doorframe to hold her weight. “Alright, bring it in.”

Jester grinned and ran forward, sweeping her up in a crushing hug and lifted her off the ground. “Oh, Beau! I’m glad you’re okay!” One by one, the Nein crowded around her, sliping their arms around one another in a group hug. Beau looked at Caleb over Jester’s shoulder, who stood awkwardly off to the side. She waved her hand and he hesitated, but reached out to hold it in his own.

“Well,” started Jaena, tapping her foot. “This is all very heartwarming, but are we done here? I’ve got other curses to break and I’m not even getting paid for this one.”

“Hey, I’m trying to have a fucking moment here,” Beau complained, wiggling her way out of the group hug. “Who the hell is this bitch?”

Caleb cleared his throat to stop them before they could get into it. He wasn’t sure if this tension was leading up to a fist fight or flirting, with Beau it was always hard to tell. “Actually, Jaena, there was something that I wanted to ask you and then we’ll be out of your hair. At one point it showed us… one of my nightmares. It put her in my place but it was my memory. Do you have any idea why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know man, I know shit about this curse. I’d love to see the box you opened, see if I can study the enchantment, maybe I can tell you more after that. But right now, I’ve told you everything I know about it. It’s possible that the curse was adapting, like an organism. It felt threatened so it changed it’s tactics, but even that’s just a guess.”

“Can I get some food?” Beau asked, wincing as her stomach growled loudly.

“Oh! I have more doughnuts!” Jester started rooting around in her bag but Beau frowned.

“I’m not sure doughnuts are gonna do the trick, Jes. I feel like I could eat a cow.”

Fjord nodded. “Well, you have been out for three days now, that’s not surprising. Let’s go back to the tavern, see if we can rustle you up some grub, yeah?”

Beau limped but leaned on her friends as they helped her out of the hallway and into the main store while Caleb stayed behind. “Deucie!” He heard Beau call. “You missed the group hug, ow- ow, watch the ribs, man.”

Caleb cleared his throat and looked down at the young gnome. “Thank you again for this. I really appreciate it. I’m sorry you have to drag you into my mess.”

She waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. With the wards and the portal, no one will even know you were here. I certainly won’t be telling anyone.” She sighed. “I was good to see you, Br- Caleb. I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“And you as well.”

“And I’m glad… I’m glad you’re not alone.”

He shifted awkwardly. “Thank you. I’m glad you made it home to your sister. Good luck.”

She nodded and turned away from him. “Yeah. You too.”

“Caleb!” Beau called, though her couldn’t see her. “You coming?”

“Yes,” he called back, walking up the hall. He passed the room where there was screaming earlier that day but now it was silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there it is. I hope you enjoyed it. It's different than my usual work but I kind of like the way it turned out. Thanks for reading.


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